What was your first GNU/Linux install?

Worztron · 16-06-2019 4:03pm #1

Hi.

What distro did you install first on physical hardware? I started with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon back in 2008. I dual booted for a while with Windows XP before eventually wiping XP and solely using Linux on my PC. I now use Debian 9 (Stretch) Stable.

rayzercork · 16-06-2019 4:18pm

i played around with live cds for a while on a laptop i had but mint 9 i think was the first i installed. i switched to ubuntu 10.04 a few days later because mint wasnt very stable. on my main machine i waited until the 12.04 release and currently on debian buster xfce. i still like to mess about with other distros from time to time, currently bodhi peppermint mint netrunner and pclinuxos

Worztron · 16-06-2019 5:11pm

rayzercork wrote: »

i played around with live cds for a while on a laptop i had but mint 9 i think was the first i installed. i switched to ubuntu 10.04 a few days later because mint wasnt very stable. on my main machine i waited until the 12.04 release and currently on debian buster xfce. i still like to mess about with other distros from time to time, currently bodhi peppermint mint netrunner and pclinuxos

Hi rayzercork. Ah Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx - perhaps my favorite of the Ubuntu codenames. Are you currently on Debian Sid? Peppermint is my goto when installing Linux on someone else's computer.

rayzercork · 16-06-2019 5:24pm

i upgraded from stretch to testing repos, then after a later upgrade it switched to the buster repos. working great so far. heres what it displays

debian@debian:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release: 10
Codename: buster

Worztron · 16-06-2019 5:27pm

rayzercork wrote: »
i upgraded from stretch to testing repos, then after a later upgrade it switched to the buster repos. working great so far. heres what it displays
debian@debian:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Debian
Description: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)
Release: 10
Codename: buster

Nice!

rayzercork · 16-06-2019 5:34pm

i also was given a raspberry pi the other day which is running stretch 9.9, i must get around to fixing it as openbox is giving me some issues where i cant move or resize windows. think its an obconf setting or multiple desktops setting according to what ive been reading online. just need time to troubleshoot

tphase · 16-06-2019 5:40pm

first was probably Red Hat 4.something, 1996 or 1997

Johnboy1951 · 16-06-2019 5:48pm

Worztron wrote: »

Hi.

What distro did you install first on physical hardware? I started with Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon back in 2008. I dual booted for a while with Windows XP before eventually wiping XP and solely using Linux on my PC. I now use Debian 9 (Stretch) Stable.

My first was an early RedHat (1990s) ...... long before I knew enough to be safe doing anything!
I switched to Linux permanently late 2004/early 2005 having spent the previous year installing 10s of distros.
I recall getting some freely delivered Ubuntu CDs in the post but I did not get on well with it.
I installed and ran multiple boot distros ..... had some 24 installed across several drives at one time as I whittled down my preferences.
It came down to CentOS, Mandrake and PCLinuxOS.
In the end I plumbed for PCLinuxOS and have run it ever since.

I have of course tried many other distro releases in the intervening years, but found no particular reason to change.

onedmc · 16-06-2019 5:52pm

I certain remember installing AT&T unix from the mid '90's. I figure anything previous I installed was propriatary unix.

PropJoe10 · 16-06-2019 5:58pm

I was a bit of a late starter. Was probably Ubuntu 12.04 I'd say.

liamo · 17-06-2019 1:51pm

I started with Debian Potato and RedHat 6.1 (kernel was v2.2 back then) about the same time in or around 2000. I don't remember which I started with first.

I stayed with RedHat for a few years, tried a few other distros, then settled on Debian. Have been using Debian almost exclusively since then.

I have, of course, tried many other distros in the meantime but have preferred Debian over any of the others.

Tom Dunne · 17-06-2019 1:56pm

Pfffft, you young people.

I recall feeding 10+ floppy discs into my 486 PC to run Slackware back in the mid-90's.

Do I need to get started on SCO Unix?

Worztron · 17-06-2019 3:11pm

liamo wrote: »

I started with Debian Potato and RedHat 6.1 (kernel was v2.2 back then) about the same time in or around 2000. I don't remember which I started with first.

I stayed with RedHat for a few years, tried a few other distros, then settled on Debian. Have been using Debian almost exclusively since then.

I have, of course, tried many other distros in the meantime but have preferred Debian over any of the others.

Hi liamo. I too love Debian. It's rock solid.

CoBo55 · 17-06-2019 3:16pm

The F variant, feisty something I can't remember, haven't run a Linux distro in ages, might try one later.

jimgoose · 17-06-2019 3:27pm

MkLinux on a PowerMac 8500 back in 1997 or so.

Skrynesaver · 17-06-2019 3:28pm

10 floppies, you had it easy, 10 floppies would've been luxury,

A full source Debian release on 2 floppies, Bash, C compiler, vi and not a lot more in terms of user land tools.

Cheers AMcK it's been an educational journey

Worztron · 17-06-2019 4:12pm

jimgoose wrote: »

MkLinux on a PowerMac 8500 back in 1997 or so.

Hi jimgoose. MkLinux is a new one to me.

jimgoose · 17-06-2019 4:13pm

Worztron wrote: »

Hi jimgoose. MkLinux is a new one to me.

"Microkernel Linux", a port for PowerPC in conjunction with Apple. It has since gone the way of the blue suede shoe.

Worztron · 17-06-2019 5:01pm

jimgoose wrote: »

"Microkernel Linux", a port for PowerPC in conjunction with Apple. It has since gone the way of the blue suede shoe.

Ah yes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MkLinux.

17-06-2019 5:09pm

Linux Fedora on a work desktop tower in June 2008.
Still have a personal Asus laptop purchased 2014 which I installed Linux mint 18 on.

liamo · 18-06-2019 2:17pm

Hah! I'm feeling quite the teenager now.

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Pfffft, you young people.

I recall feeding 10+ floppy discs into my 486 PC to run Slackware back in the mid-90's.

Do I need to get started on SCO Unix?

Tom Dunne · 18-06-2019 3:00pm

liamo wrote: »

Hah! I'm feeling quite the teenager now.

Just don't get me started on Digital VAX/VMS.

source · 18-06-2019 3:30pm

Started with Ubuntu 8.04 after an xp laptop I had got a BSOD. Would not boot into windows no matter what I tried, was able to save my files through the live cd and I've been with Linux ever since. Mainly Ubuntu, but I've played around with Mint, Elementary and kubutu.

Now I'm running Solus 4, it's great. I was one of the 10 or so people who loved unity and hated the move to gnome 3.

PropJoe10 · 18-06-2019 11:04pm

source wrote: »

Started with Ubuntu 8.04 after an xp laptop I had got a BSOD. Would not boot into windows no matter what I tried, was able to save my files through the live cd and I've been with Linux ever since. Mainly Ubuntu, but I've played around with Mint, Elementary and kubutu.

Now I'm running Solus 4, it's great. I was one of the 10 or so people who loved unity and hated the move to gnome 3.

Unity is absolutely fine. Never really understood why people got so bent out of shape over it. I always found it functional to use.

mcmoustache · 19-06-2019 12:34pm

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Unity is absolutely fine.

Them's fighting words.

igCorcaigh · 19-06-2019 12:40pm

Just recently wiped an old XP machine and installed the latest Ubuntu.
No going back now.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Release: 18.04
Codename: bionic

And I like the Gnome 3 desktop.

igCorcaigh · 19-06-2019 12:45pm

Started with Fedora 10 years ago but it was a pain.
So much easier now for new users.

croo · 20-06-2019 2:41pm

I think I have, in storage someplace, the circa 90 floppies I used to make my first linux install on a monster PC I'd built... intel 486 CPU with an absurd 4MB of ram. I think I had a CD in the PC but nobody had CD writers hence the floppies. I'd have to dig out the floppies but I think it was called SLS. We're talking around 1993. There was no GUI after the install, you had to first manually write the X Window configuration files before you could start X and I think twm was the window manager. It was very basic... by today's standards. Back then it was brilliant!

chonix · 24-06-2019 4:37pm

First install: Debian Woody/Sarge.
I had 3 disk drives, so I didn't do dual boot until I was 100% sure I was going to do the right thing, so I played along until I got the idea of dual boot correctly.
Can't recall much of that PC... It was a P II 300, 64 or 256Mb of ram? oh god

Johnboy1951 · 24-06-2019 5:06pm

Just a note to point out that using 'names' in place of dates does not help those unfamiliar with a particular distro determine a time frame.

For instance I would have no idea that
Codename: bionic
was released in April 2018 unless it was specified in the post by igCorcaigh (thanks).

Worztron · 24-06-2019 6:07pm

chonix wrote: »

First install: Debian Woody/Sarge.
I had 3 disk drives, so I didn't do dual boot until I was 100% sure I was going to do the right thing, so I played along until I got the idea of dual boot correctly.
Can't recall much of that PC... It was a P II 300, 64 or 256Mb of ram? oh god

Hi chonix. Debian Woody/Sarge? That's going back a while (early 2000s?). You must be a Linux pro then?

CiniO · 24-06-2019 7:03pm

I first seen Linux in 1997 when I started secondary school as my school had a Linux server and we used DOS telnet client on pc class lab workstations to log into and check your emails with pine download files with FTP or chat using IRC. That was slackware 3.4 with 2.0.30 afair.

I liked it so much that in January 1998 I installed Monkey Linux on my own pc. That was very basic distro where whole root filesystem was in directory on DOS partition and using UMSDOS filesystem kernel managed to mount it.
Played with it for a week or two and the installed red hat 5.
Then since mid 1998 I sticked with Slackware on my pc and pretty much completely abandoned Windows for many years to come.
Again in 2004 I gave up slackware and started with Gentoo which was my primary system until 2012.

Unfortunately since 2012 I gave up using Linux on may everyday pc and switched to win8 and later to win10.

Worztron · 24-06-2019 7:20pm

CiniO wrote: »

I first seen Linux in 1997 when I started secondary school as my school had a Linux server and we used DOS telnet client on pc class lab workstations to log into and check your emails with pine download files with FTP or chat using IRC. That was slackware 3.4 with 2.0.30 afair.

I liked it so much that in January 1998 I installed Monkey Linux on my own pc. That was very basic distro where whole root filesystem was in directory on DOS partition and using UMSDOS filesystem kernel managed to mount it.
Played with it for a week or two and the installed red hat 5.
Then since mid 1998 I sticked with Slackware on my pc and pretty much completely abandoned Windows for many years to come.
Again in 2004 I gave up slackware and started with Gentoo which was my primary system until 2012.

Unfortunately since 2012 I gave up using Linux on may everyday pc and switched to win8 and later to win10.

Slackware and and then onto Gentoo? You really know your stuff there, CiniO. It's unfortunate that you left Linux for Windows. Maybe you'll return someday?

Ubbquittious · 30-06-2019 4:40pm

Mandrake linux around 2001

niallb · 02-07-2019 2:25am

Slackware 1.1 - and as I remember it there were a lot more than 10 floppies!
1995 or 1996 probably. skrynesaver was there too!

We got our hands on a box of CDs that included yggdrasil linux, slackware and a very early debian as well as a snapshot of some ftp servers full of goodies and a full mirror of the Linux Documentation Project.
Considering our modem (Cornell - the friendly modem) connected at 2.4kbit this was a real find!

Keplar240B · 02-07-2019 2:32am

Knoppix I got a free CD with a book.
Knoppix is just for playing, testing and as an utility CD.

First proper install was Lubuntu to replace Windows XP on an old computer.

Worztron · 02-07-2019 10:04am

Keplar240B wrote: »

Knoppix I got a free CD with a book.
Knoppix is just for playing, testing and as an utility CD.

First proper install was Lubuntu to replace Windows XP on an old computer.

Hi Keplar240B. KNOPPIX was the first distro I tried - as a Live CD. It felt so alien after being so used to M$ Windows. It took a while later before I tried Linux again and eventually installed Ubuntu and am so glad to have entered the world of GNU/Linux and left behind all the restrictions, licenses, keys, and other proprietary nonsense.

mcmoustache · 05-07-2019 4:49pm

Worztron wrote: »

Hi Keplar240B. KNOPPIX was the first distro I tried - as a Live CD. It felt so alien after being so used to M$ Windows. It took a while later before I tried Linux again and eventually installed Ubuntu and am so glad to have entered the world of GNU/Linux and left behind all the restrictions, licenses, keys, and other proprietary nonsense.

There's also the lack of crapware, adware and malware. Don't get me wrong, it's not immune but for most users, you would need to go out of your way to install anything dodgy.

If you're doing anything dodgy and need to visit dodgy sites, linux is the way to go. It's like a virtual condom.

Worztron · 05-07-2019 4:54pm

mcmoustache wrote: »

There's also the lack of crapware, adware and malware. Don't get me wrong, it's not immune but for most users, you would need to go out of your way to install anything dodgy.

If you're doing anything dodgy and need to visit dodgy sites, linux is the way to go. It's like a virtual condom.

Hi mcmoustache. Yep, I can't believe people put up with the likes of Windows 10 - a bloated piece of giant spyware. 'virtual condom' you say - I think that needs to be added to Urban Dictionary. ;-)

The high horse brigade · 07-07-2019 8:34pm

Mine was Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn in 2007

CiniO · 07-07-2019 10:51pm

Worztron wrote: »

Slackware and and then onto Gentoo? You really know your stuff there, CiniO. It's unfortunate that you left Linux for Windows. Maybe you'll return someday?

Maybe.
Fact is, that in 1998 Windows 95 and freshly released Windows 98 were extremely unreliable and unstable.
Constant blue-screens. Uncontrollable behaviour. Unefficient use of hardware. Very poor system design in general. In my eyes then it was hardly usable, and uncomparable with nearly 100% reliablility and stability of linux.
Windows Me was even worse.
Windows 2000 as based on NT was bit better, but lacked support for multimedia and games.
Then XP while big technological advance, was still very unstable system and cursed with crazy amount of viruses, malware, etc...
I didn't even try Win7 even though people were saying it was good.

But the fact is, that around 2012 I started getting bit tired with Gentoo, as nearly every package update meant problems with compilation. Some packages wouldn't compile with certain USE flags, some wouldn't with certain gcc options. In general having relatively up to date system, running fast optimised and customised as much as I wanted it to be, cost me crazy amount of time for simple solving problems of packages not compiling which I had to spend so much time get it all going.
This in short gave me an idea to try Win8 while it was released.
And to my surprise, I found a system which was running stable and fast.
Unusual user interface which most people were complaining about was not an issue for me, as I wasn't used to earlier windows UIs anyway.
Then Win10 turned out even better.

Don't get me wrong. I know Windows is a commercial product. I know Microsoft is spying on us.
But fact is that in todays world using Windows on day-to-day PC is reasonable . It is stable, reliable and provides very good performance which beats linux abilities in many ways. Yes - of course it's not perfect, and its filled with spying mechanisms, but works out of the box and works very well.

These days I see Linux more as a server system (which it always was great for) but unfortunately less of a workstation system as it used to be even 10 years ago.

Johnboy1951 · 07-07-2019 11:28pm

I don't quite grasp the comparison ......
you got fed up with all the compiling and problems to be overcome in the version of Linux you were using at the time and moved to Windows but no mention of trying a different distro where you would effectively be spoonfed like in Windows, while having the facility to add your own 'thing' if you felt like it.

Seems strange to me is all.
But I ain't no guru .....

Standard Toaster · 07-07-2019 11:38pm

Some Debian release in the late 90s. Version 2 or 3, can't remember. I must revisit it, been all Redhat/Fedora since then.

Worztron · 08-07-2019 12:44pm

@CiniO The update issues and spying in Windows 10 is beyond a joke.

PropJoe10 · 08-07-2019 4:19pm

Worztron wrote: »

@CiniO The update issues and spying in Windows 10 is beyond a joke.

I've got Win10 installed on my gaming PC purely for gaming reasons and have actually turned off updates altogether since version 1803. You just get tired of "Update failed" and "unable to apply updates" messages, then getting stuck in endless boot loops.

Never mind it continuously and shamelessly overwriting my dual boot setup.

Awful awful system and wish I could get shot of it completely!

Sir Oxman · 08-07-2019 9:19pm

CiniO wrote: »

These days I see Linux more as a server system (which it always was great for) but unfortunately less of a workstation system as it used to be even 10 years ago.

Have to disagree here completely.
There's never been a better era for using Linux on the desktop.
I'm a (was) a windows man since win3.1 but the complete update/spy shambles in Win10 has finally forced me off my arse into Linux and I'm there now on server and desktop. Easy as falling off a bike

IMO there has never been a more inclusive time for moving to Linux for desktop users.
Most distros are literally point and click (though I am really enjoying using terminal for most admin tasks)

On topic - my first try was about 15 years ago, Fedora. Couldn't understand it.
My first real try was a month ago, Debian <--the dogs b*llocks.

igCorcaigh · 08-07-2019 10:03pm

New Debian release.
Will this be rolled into a release for Ubuntu?

PropJoe10 · 08-07-2019 10:10pm

Sir Oxman wrote: »

Have to disagree here completely.
There's never been a better era for using Linux on the desktop.
I'm a (was) a windows man since win3.1 but the complete update/spy shambles in Win10 has finally forced me off my arse into Linux and I'm there now on server and desktop. Easy as falling off a bike

IMO there has never been a more inclusive time for moving to Linux for desktop users.
Most distros are literally point and click (though I am really enjoying using terminal for most admin tasks)

On topic - my first try was about 15 years ago, Fedora. Couldn't understand it.
My first real try was a month ago, Debian <--the dogs b*llocks.

I've actually spent this evening getting some Windows/Mac games going on my Fedora box and had great success. Considering removing my Win10 partition now as I really don't need it anymore. Fedora 30 is a fantastic release. As you said, I also think its a fantastic time for desktop Linux users.

igCorcaigh · 08-07-2019 10:43pm

PropJoe10 wrote: »

As you said, I also think its a fantastic time for desktop Linux users.

OT, but I'd like to see Linux as the default install on public sector machines. It could really cut down on licensing costs. Especially in these days when so many LOB apps are browser based.

Worztron · 09-07-2019 12:52pm

igCorcaigh wrote: »

New Debian release.
Will this be rolled into a release for Ubuntu?

Hi igCorcaigh. I don't quite understand the question. Do you mean will Ubuntu be based on Buster? AFAIK, Ubuntu get's based on Debian Testing (Buster is the stable branch).

Worztron · 09-07-2019 12:54pm

igCorcaigh wrote: »

OT, but I'd like to see Linux as the default install on public sector machines. It could really cut down on licensing costs. Especially in these days when so many LOB apps are browser based.

It'd make sense but alas M$ has long since cemented their monopoly.

What was your first GNU/Linux install?

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